Women sometimes wonder why men pay such close attention to sports stories. They don’t see the value in talking about people they don’t actually know and getting wrapped up in the lives of people they’ll never meet. But if you followed that line of thinking, no one would watch soap operas, Real Housewives, or any other reality TV programming.

Perhaps if you thought of sports headlines in those terms it would make a little more sense. The drama in New York over Jorge Posada, is similar to the drama on your favorite show. The storylines unfolding in the NBA playoffs took years to develop just like the long-running soap operas.

That means if you’re trying to jump into the fray and figure out what’s going on, it might take you a few games or a few articles to start getting up to speed – just like if you were to start watching a show in the middle of a season.

The team Kevin Durant should still be playing for had the city of Seattle and state of Washington gotten their act together.

So give sports stories a chance, I promise there’s plenty of drama and it will help you make small talk at the office. Need a little help getting started? Try these conversation starters for the week.

NBA – We’ve made it to the conference final round. The winners of each matchup will play in the NBA Finals. The Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder plays Dallas in the Western Conference Finals. It’s an interesting matchup because Dallas disposed of the Lakers so quickly, they’ve been waiting more than a week to play. Chicago and Miami square off in the Eastern Conference finals. Chicago took a 1-0 series lead Sunday night and won each regular season matchup with the Heat this year. Who do you think will matchup in the Finals? Which team has the most depth? Who is the most clutch player remaining?

NHL – The hockey playoffs also reached the conference finals. Vancouver and San Jose are playing in the Western Conference Finals and Boston faces Tampa Bay. The winners of these matchups will play for the Stanley Cup finals. Vancouver’s Sedin brothers, Henrik and Daniel, have each won a scoring title in the last two years, but it’s the Canucks defense that could tip the scales against San Jose. What do you think will be the difference in the series? Who would you like to see in the Stanley Cup Finals?

MLB – The tension and the drama are building in New York where long-time Yankee Jorge Posada pulled himself out of the lineup last weekend. Posada, a former catcher, is struggling in his new role as DH. The manager dropped him to 9th in the lineup because he’s hitting just .165. The move offended Posada but team captain Derek Jeter stood up for him, which only irked Yankee brass even more. How should Posada have responded? How much longer can he and Jeter play?

NFL – The NFL owners and players have resumed court-ordered mediation. The judge mediating the talks has scheduled just 2 days of mediation. That doesn’t give them any time to hammer out details of any significant deals so don’t expect much to get done. When do you think it will get resolved? What would you do to hammer out the issues?